Electrical fire at Spanky’s Pizza prompts temporary shutdown

BANGOR, Maine — A small electrical fire Thursday night at Spanky’s Pizza did not cause much in the way of fire damage, but it did cause the Walter Street business to close temporarily.

Co-owners Matt Ramisch and his father, Wiley Ramisch, said Thursday night that they hoped to reopen over the weekend, within about 48 hours of the fire. They advised customers to call ahead.

Staff at the family business planned to spend the night cleaning up and throwing away food and supplies that might have been contaminated by the extinguishers used to put out the fire.

Because the electrical power had to be shut off, pizzeria employees also were scrambling to load up food not affected by the fire for a trip to Dennis Paper & Food Services. The food services company offered to store the salvageable food items in its own refrigeration units until Spanky’s is ready to reopen, Wiley Ramisch said.

Story continues below advertisement.

The fire, which began about 7:10 p.m., was held to one of the large refrigerators in the business.

Assistant Fire Chief Rick Cheverie said Thursday that Spanky’s employees initially tried to put the fire out themselves using dry chemical extinguishers. After they emptied a few extinguishers, a pizzeria worker called the Fire Department, which used its own carbon dioxide extinguishers to finish the job.

Before Spanky’s can reopen, Ramisch and Chaveree said, it must undergo a health inspection.